VinaCapital Ventures invests in Vietnam-based UrBox and Wee Digital

The Vietnam-based VC firm also appoints advisory board chairman VinaCapital Ventures, the venture capital arm of asset management company VinaCapital just announced that it has made an undisclosed amount of investment in digital gifting platform UrBox and in Wee Digital, AI and biometric-powered fintech startup. Both companies are Vietnam-based companies, as reported by Deal Street […]
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The Vietnam-based VC firm also appoints advisory board chairman

VinaCapital Ventures, the venture capital arm of asset management company VinaCapital just announced that it has made an undisclosed amount of investment in digital gifting platform UrBox and in Wee Digital, AI and biometric-powered fintech startup. Both companies are Vietnam-based companies, as reported by Deal Street Asia.

“We notice that Vietnamese tech startups are still tackling some of the biggest inefficiencies in doing business. These investments are part of our continued effort to nurture the community and give consumers access to advanced products and services at reasonable costs,” said Khanh Tran, VinaCapital Ventures partner.

UrBox, the digital gifting startup has managed to partner with more than 3,000 retail outlets across Vietnam and with e-commerce sites such as Shopee, Tiki, Adayroi, and Grab. It received pre-seed funding from Vietnam-focussed accelerator and seed fund VIISA prior to this funding round.

Wee Digital, which was founded by serial entrepreneur Christian Nguyen, is said to be the first fintech that applies financial biometrics. This funding is its first VC funding.

Aside from the investments, VinaCapital Ventures also announced the appointment of Philipp Rösler as chairman of its advisory board. Rosler was a former German Vice Chancellor and was an advisor to US-based Founder’s Fund.

For the new role will provide counsel to both VinaCapital Ventures and its portfolio companies.

If nothing else, last week’s Fitbit event showed the world that the company had learned two key lessons in the past year. One: price is possibly the largest driver in the company’s recent smartwatch success — so it went even lower with the $160 Versa Lite. Two: there are just too damn many Fitbit models. […]